Snippet #1853189

Black walked through the dusty street of the small town. The morning dew had just finished evaporating and the fully clothed man pulled his wide brimmed had just a tad lower to keep the sun out of his eyes. Located in Fein, a mile or so from the border, most of the town’s income came in the from the goods and people that passed through it on their in and out of the country. Though since the war had started it seemed that there were quite a bit more goods coming out than going in. Which had provided quite the boost to the economy. Black watched someone purchase some dried fish as he walked past a small stall. He heard the unmistakable clang of tiny coins as the money exchanged hands. Oh, how he loved that sound.

As he neared his destination, his guild-house, he wondered if there would be a certain letter waiting in the charity box. He had sent the anonymous suggestion out nearly a month ago, and he was starting to wonder if this particular caveat of his plan would even come to fruition. Though it was not necessary, he knew that his lucky friend would be pleased if it did. Black always made sure to keep his lucky charm happy about the jobs they took, whenever he could. However, he hadn’t counted on them taking this long to respond and no matter what awaited his arrival in the charity box, the assignment could wait no longer.

As Black turned a corner, he passed one of the town guards who saluted the robed man as he walked by. Not that strange seeing as Black himself along with his guild was quite respected within it‘s home town. Tipping his hat at the guard as he passed, Black’s thoughts shifted back to his meeting with the mayor of the town. A tall and reputable man, serious and unflinching. The bearded man would do whatever it took to have prosperity in his town. Black somewhat respected that the man truly cared more about the town than his own assets, though it had been quite the annoyance when he had tried to get his foot in the man’s door. Then even harder when the mayor had flat out refused his bribe, well until Black had suggested he use it to purchase new parts for the mill. After that, he found that the benevolent mayor was quite easy to persuade whenever he needed something. In this mornings case, some guards around his guild-house for the next few weeks.

Finally, Black reached the front entrance of his guild-house. The Hide, the Hog, and the Herring. Not the most glamorous name for a guild, but at least he didn’t have to dip into guild funds for it. In fact HHH, being the rather unscrupulous guild that it was, probably benefited from the slight anonymity that came with the name.

As he reached the door, black opened the small box that was the guilds “charity box”. A place where requests could be made that provided no payment. Most came from the inhabitants of the town and it often provided a break in the monotony for whichever guild member got stuck holding down the fort during a mission. Black remembered that Lucy was the one who had suggested it and though he had at first dismissed the young barmaid’s idea as naïve, he later realized that it would be a win win situation. Increase the favor among the town, while providing the guild members from an easy break whenever they wanted it.

As he lifted the single letter out of the he grinned under the blackness that covered his face. What a fine reward for all of his early morning’s work, getting exactly what he wanted exactly when he needed. He stuffed it into one of his robes many pockets with four other documents. It looked like everything he had planned was going perfectly, something he often got to relish in. He put his hands on the double doors to the guild with a smile that no one would see and began to push.

The only way things could possibly be any better would be if everyone was already gathered in the main hall. That was, if Lucy had followed the instructions he had given her before leaving in the dark of the morning. He had told her to have everyone gathered in the main room for a meeting, but she had seemed quite sleepy at the time. He wondered if the slight romantic shock he had given her, commenting that her sleeping face was “rather cute”, had been enough to help her remember. In any case, he would soon find out as the doors began to swing open.